I'm not trying to prove they are unscriptural with these observations.
According to you, because we do not cite them, they must not be of importance to us.
But yes, this IS what I'm trying to show, that since you quote from them so rarely, they must not be of the same importance to you as other scripture.
This is a false premise, because I have yet to see someone cite Philemon or Obediah... Jesus Himself did not cite from a number of books from the OT. So this line of reasoning that you have presented is a faulty one.
In my Bible, the books of Philemon and Obediah COMBINED take up a grand total of 4 pages. That includes the study notes. :) You're putting that up against 7 books, presumably most of which are much much longer? I know that Jesus did not quote from every OT book, and that does not diminish them as scripture. But here we are talking about 7 full books as a block. I would imagine that together they cover a fair amount of material.
Would it make a difference to you if I DID cite the Deuterocanonicals more often? I doubt it.
Since I do not claim that they are necessarily all wrong, I would treat them as non-authoritative, which may or may not be persuasive. I think Luther included them in a separate section in his Bible, so they probably can't be all bad. :)
Again, pages does not equate to importance! I said this earlier to you when I spoke about Mary... Is the book of Numbers that important to your theology? How about Chronicles, which Jesus NEVER mentions - at least in Scriptures? Yours is a dead-end street. The number of times I quote from the Deuterocanonicals to a PROTESTANT is not an indication of their unimportance. I happen to enjoy Tobit and the book of Wisdom. You might be better served if you took the time to read it, as it is one of the most profound books of the Old Testament. Since I do not claim that they are necessarily all wrong, I would treat them as non-authoritative, which may or may not be persuasive. I think Luther included them in a separate section in his Bible, so they probably can't be all bad. :)
I can quote from them more, if you like. It is a bit more difficult, however - because most Bible software does not include them. Thus, it is a bit harder to call up verses from them that apply to a given situation.
Regards
Like I said before, in my individual mindspace, Wisdom contains a good overview of the Old Testament while prefiguring the New, Ecclesiasticus has a thourough treatment on free will, and Maccabees has prooftexts on prayers for the dead. Others may have something esle. There is a reason Luther the Fraud got rid of these books, and the reason is his theological fantasies.